Seperate Lives
by Narsus
Summary: What if the Agents started of human...
1. Seperate Lives

1 Separate Lives  
  
Disclaimers: They belong to the Wachowski brothers, Time-Warner and whoever else…  
  
I guess the premise is how were the Agents created…  
  
Thanks to 02 for a long discussion on the topic.  
  
  
  
A boy sits facing a computer screen, in what appears to be his bedroom. We don't know his name… it's not important. There is the sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs. A knock at the door. Someone on the other side. Nothing important, someone calling him to come down for dinner.  
  
After dinner, apparently. He, we'll call him Johnny, is sitting in front of his computer again. He's surfing the web. Nothing unusual in that. But Johnny isn't looking for porn or warez. He seems to be quite interested in hacking materials. We look closer at the screen. A copy of the 'Jolly Roger Cook Book' flashes by. A page comes up, nothing too exciting. "Morpheus" Johnny breaths, reverently. There's a pounding on the door again. Apparently dad wants him to go to bed and not spend so much time on the computer. Johnny spends the rest of the night in front of the glowing screen.  
  
We can guess that this isn't the only night that Johnny has spent thus. Days have passed, we don't know how many. We see Johnny nervously looking over his shoulder before running down an alleyway. A few seconds after he disappears out of site we see a larger shape follow the path he has taken, it bears a passing resemblance to Agent Jones.  
  
Inside what appears to be a deserted warehouse someone is offering Johnny a red pill or a blue pill. It's not Morpheus but probably the next best thing. Johnny is starting to look nervous. There are people standing round with various guns. Someone seems to hear something, several of them panic. Johnny makes a dash for the door, he doesn't get very far in the gunfire. They check the now lifeless body, cursing that it might have been a trap.  
  
We see a man running through the dark streets. Disbelief and fear is written on his face. It's understandable. His son has just been killed and there is every chance that he'll be too late to save his wife and two daughters. He reaches the suburbs, comes flying through the back door of a house, his house, just in time to see that he's too late. He falls under a barrage of gunfire. His killers curse amongst themselves, deciding it wasn't a trap after all, only a father trying to protect his son.  
  
Somewhere else, we don't know where, a green screen flashes gleefully. We see the words spell themselves out across the screen:  
  
Capture program initiated  
  
********************  
  
An overhead view of a city. Traffic along the streets, pedestrians rushing to and froe. Someone on a moped, a miscellaneous pizza delivery guy. He stops by a tall skyscraper, asking directions at the front desk. He's directed up to the 28th floor. The sign at that level announces "Bullfrog Play-testing Labs", there's a large frog logo emblazoned beneath the words. A man wearing a "Syndicate Wars" T-shirt sticks his head round the door, cheerily pays the pizza guy and ambles back into the lab area, arms full of pizza boxes.  
  
Inside the lab now, we see one of the flat-back monitors blank out to suddenly display the predictable message of "The Matrix has you". Cutting back to the group now surrounding the pile of pizzas we can see the play- testers riffling through the boxes to find their orders. One of them stands towards the back of the crowd. "Cheese" someone yells. "Triple cheese." He calls back, grinning as someone hands him the box. Returning to his desk he notices the message. A curse escapes his lips. He glares at his workmates as they return to their places "OK. Who's been pulling this 'Matrix' crap?" They all look wary. He's about to call someone over to look at the evidence then suddenly his monitor refreshes to display a 'blue screen of death'.  
  
A flicker and for a moment we wonder if we've been blue-screen-of- deathed too, but now we see a waiting room. It's the sort of room that neurotic patients for expensive physiatrists spend most of their time in. He's sitting in the corner, our play-tester from earlier. Briefly, he lifts his head from his hands and we notices that he bears a certain resemblance to Agent Brown.  
  
We can safely assume that he's spent at least an hour with a company- paid-for physiatrist, when he re-enters the waiting room. He's clutching what looks like a medical letter of some sort.  
  
Returning to the Play-testing labs we notice that his desk is empty. His co-workers are whispering amongst themselves. We catch a few words '…freak…', '…seeing things…', '…Matrix…'.  
  
In his apartment, supposedly, we see several figures standing round him. He is cringing on the couch, mostly uninterested in either pill being offered to him. If we could lip-read we would be able to pick out him mouthing the word 'police'. The gunshot rings quite loudly as he slumps onto the couch. His murderers argue amongst themselves, apparently he wasn't meant to die.  
  
The same green screen as before fills our vision. Somehow more malevolent than previously, it spells out:  
  
Capture program initiated  
  
**********************  
  
We're in a white, pristine lab now. Several scientists are carrying out various jobs on the benches. A woman checks a centrifuge, before moving on to an electrophoresis gel. She signals to another that the gel is ready to run. We take a closer looks at her colleague, who is on the phone. We see her gesticulate while speaking and we note the platinum wedding band on her fourth finger, under her surgical gloves. She hangs up the phone. We hear a faint beeping; she glances at her colleague before hurrying into the side office and taping a few keys on her laptop. We can't see the monitor. Seemingly satisfied with her message she hits the 'return' key before re-entering the main lab.  
  
We cut to the parking lot of the research laboratories. The woman puts her laptop in the boot of her Mercedes. She climbs into the car, turning up the volume on the radio before driving off. We watch her. She drives like a rally driver. We see her clench her teeth, annoyance bordering on anger radiated in every muscle in her body.  
  
Our view pans out and we see the streetlights flash past. We see a tall building, a fancy apartment block. A sign proclaims it 'St George's Warf'. The light from the river reflects off it oddly, almost rivalling the MI6 building across from it. Our view carries us up, along the outside of the building, to one specific apartment window.  
  
Now inside the brightly illuminated apartment, in soft focus. We hear a shot ringing in the air before we can resolve the image. The sound of running feet. Then we are hovering over the scene. A man lies, slumped over a grand piano, blue eyes wide with shock. We can see the scorch mark were the bullet entered his skull, at point blank range. He looks a lot like Agent Smith.  
  
The door bursts open. The scientist is frozen in place. She doesn't notice the red pill placed carefully on top of the piano, she's too busy staring at her husband's lifeless body.  
  
This time the green screen somehow looks all the more vengeful. The intensity of its text grows until it is almost blinding:  
  
Capture program initiated  
  
********************  
  
We are suspended in an apparent screen burnout. Then it fades. Our vision resolves to focus on the green screen again. The data flashes past far to quickly for us to read or comprehend. We can just about see three distinct profiles, as the vital statistics for three new Matrix agents are uploaded. Suddenly the screen blanks. Then text begins to spell itself out contentedly:  
  
Agent activation complete  
  
  
  
Why is Jones' kid called Johnny? I don't know, he needed a name.  
  
Brown works for Bullfrog because Maxis would have been too happy.  
  
Smith lives by Vauxhall Bridge for no reason other than they were building St George's Warf when I still had to drive over Vauxhall Bridge on a frequent basis (it should be on your right if you're heading south of the river).  
  
Translation note: apparently in America you say 'trunk' of the car rather than 'boot'.  
  
00:37am - 18th March 2002  
  
Narsus is going to bed 


	2. Addendum 1: Ancillary Program

Addendum 1: Ancillary Program 

Disclaimers: They belong to the Wachowski brothers, Time-Warner and whoever else…

1st Continuation part to "Separate Lives".  Won't make sense unless you've read it first.

            A small group of 'freeded' humans stood in a room in what appeared to be a deserted shop.  Two women, three men.  One of the women appeared to be arguing with one of the men.  They were trying to whisper so only scraps of conversation floated past.

"…too risky…"

"…need to be sure…"

"…can't risk it…"

The man snorted and turned away from the woman.  He addressed the group, waving a computer print-out for emphasis, "We need to be sure that this ancillary program isn't a threat."

"So you're going after it!" the woman burst out.

"We need to know what it is.  You said so yourself and the only way to do that is to access the Mainframe."

"Do you have any idea how may Agents you'd have to get past to do that?!" she sounded both incredulous and panicked.

"This tracking program is too effective.  We need to shut it down!"

"Fine then!"  the woman turned away, picking up the telephone receiver.  The two women and one of the men disappeared back into the real world.  Of the remaining two, only the man with the print out looked confident.

            In a stark white room several banks of monitors flickered.  One particular monitor stopped running code and changed to display Agent Brown seemingly holding a staring contest with a security camera.  Nodding to himself Brown turned back towards the rest of the room.  He looked first to Jones, who had been leaning against a wall, then to Smith who sat rigidly at the table in the centre of the room.  Jones moved towards the door.  Smith's only response was to spread his fingers out and lay his hands flat on the table.  "Today." He said "Today is important."

Brown considered this, he supposed it might be.

            The two humans watched from across the road as the three Agents filled out of the building, got into a car and drove off.

"Good."

"Good?  What about all the other Agents in that building?"

"From our reports those are the three assigned to Mainframe patrol, so if they're not there…"

"I hope you're right."

            Breaking into the building that served as central command here in the Matrix wasn't as difficult as the humans though it would have been.

"Are you sure this isn't a trap?"

"How could it be?  It's not as if they know we're here."

A gunshot sounded along the length of the corridor.  A glance was enough to confirm that Jones was stood at the end of the corridor with a row of SWAT team officers behind him.  The humans dived round the corner and began to run towards the lifts.  Behind them came the steady sound of marching feet.  Apparently the SWAT team weren't in a particular hurry.

            As the lift doors closed both humans looked at eachother aghast.

"They knew!  We're trapped!"

"Calm down.  If we can reach the Mainframe… If we can reach the Mainframe and shut down enough Agents…"

"You think we can?"

            The 28th floor appeared to be empty, though both humans treaded wearily along the length of the corridors.  The hidden security cameras turned to watch their progress.  The mirrored length of one wall made them both jump.

            Behind the mirrored wall, Brown and Smith watched the humans' progress.

"They intend to shut down the Mainframe" Smith stated.

"Yes." A pause "They do not seem to realise the enormity of their task." The corner of Brown's lips quirked in what, had he been human, would have been the beginnings of a smile.

One of Smith's eyebrows gravitated upwards slightly, in response, "I do not think they will get very far."

"They never do." Came Jones' response through their earpieces.

Had any of the Agents been inclined to laugh, now would have been the time that they would have done so.

            The humans made their way further along the corridors unhindered.  Near panic fuelling their movements.  One was about to speak when their heard a voice coming from one of the corridors adjoining the one they were in.  Brown's voice was heard distinctly, "Secure corridor 2A."  Both men began to move more quickly, now they had the exact location of the Mainframe access terminal.

            "Knight to d3." A female voice echoed through the Agents' communication system.  Smith began to walk with a slow measured tread towards the Mainframe access terminal.  The humans had just disappeared inside the room leading to the terminal room when he reached the door.

            Inside the first room the humans were looking for a way to operate the door mechanism with barred them from the Mainframe.  They managed to unlock the door and one had entered the Mainframe room.

            "Bishop to d2."  

Brown entered the room from a previously concealed entrance.  The human inside the Mainframe room suddenly pulled the door shut.  Effectively trapping his companion inside the other room with Brown.  He was forced to turn away from the security glass portal in the door when Brown pulled the trigger.

If only he could shut down the Mainframe or at least erase this Ancillary Program used to track them…

"Knight to d1." Came a female voice in front of him.  The human looked up to see a woman sat in front of him, perched between two monitors.  A female Agent?  He was so stunned that he almost didn't feel the bullet explode in the base of his skull.

Smith looked up from the corpse.  "Happy anniversary dear."

In response, the Ancillary Program that had once been his wife, smiled.

How did Smith's wife become an Ancillary Program?  I don't know yet.  I just figured that she'd hardly side with the 'freeded' humans once they'd killed her husband.

And the chess references?  Well, just because.

Oh, and she smiles when all the other Agents don't tend to because she's a strategic program and strategists always smile…

Now I just need to sort out Addendums 2 and 3, for Brown and Jones, respectively…

- Narsus (2:35am, 27/03/02)


	3. Addendum 2: Comfort (Warning shounen-ai/...

Addendum 2: Comfort 

Disclaimers: They belong to the Wachowski brothers, Time-Warner and whoever else…

Shounen-ai!  Slash!  What ever you want to call it!

2st Continuation part to "Separate Lives".  Won't make sense unless you've read it first.

            They'd seen it happen, right in front of them, not three meters away.  The human, Anderson, also called Neo, had done the impossible; not only defeated their Command unit but destroyed him.  The look on Smith's face, before he had… had exploded… it hadn't been fear of annihilation; it had been outrage, pure and utter fury.  It wasn't supposed to be like that, they were meant to destroy the human rebels not the other way round.  But this human had been different… they had destroyed him, Smith had empted an entire clip into the human's chest, there had been no life signs.  It didn't make sense; humans did not respawn.  Yet this one had, standing where their Command unit had been destroyed, facing them, fearless and invincible.  And for the first time the possibility of defeat entered into the equation.

Brown did the only thing he could think to do, the one thing he should have done the first time he'd encountered the rebels; he ran.  There was every possibility that this human; this 'Neo' would destroy him anyway, just like he'd destroyed Smith but it was an almost basic instinct to flee.  Some detached part of him considered the irony of the situation.  The first time he'd been cornered by the rebels he couldn't run and now that he had the opportunity to escape it probably wouldn't help.  Last time he had been a single terrified human, now he was an equally terrified Agent… perhaps it wasn't so different after all.

Vaguely Brown was aware that Jones had also fled but in the opposite direction.  He didn't know where Jones would have gone but then he didn't know where he was going either.  He just had to get away.  Away from the human with his terrible calm and destructive capability; away from the sharp memory of exploding code that had once been an Agent.  It probably was a good think that being an Agent meant that you were only comprised of code, otherwise it might have been quite messy, Brown found himself thinking hysterically.

Hours, minutes, maybe only seconds later, he was hunched up in a corner in some disused storeroom of some miscellaneous building.  Shoved back against the wall, arms round his knees trying to forget the nightmares that were creeping up on him again.  Clenching his teeth so hard that it would have hurt, had he been human, Brown's hazel eyes were wide and staring behind his standard issue sunglasses.  He made no sound; no tremor betrayed the horrific memory that had ceased hold of him… the memory of his death.  

The abruptness of the gunshot had been a surprise rather than the expected fatal stab of pain.  The rebels had surrounded him in his apartment, after months of harassing him, though standard phone line and computer connection.  He'd been half mad with fear by then.  Unable to think rationally by the time they had tried to make him choose the real world over the Matrix.  Too scared to consider the consequences of his refusal.  They shot him, to keep their silence.  Lying on the couch, helplessly bleeding his life out, he'd seen them leave.  Heavy boots trudging through what was left of his apartment, walking away as if nothing had happened.  They'd even killed his cat.

Pulled back into 'reality' by the sound of footsteps Brown drew a shuddering breath, waiting for the inevitable.  He couldn't fight back, wasn't going to try.  The system saving him, making him an Agent had only been a brief suspension of the inevitable and now; maybe fate was simply reclaiming what should have been.  Brown closed his eyes and rested his head against his knees, regret and resignation the cause of the tears that slipped from beneath his eyelids.

The footsteps stopped and it was Jones who knelt down beside him.  There was a moment's hesitation, followed by arms encircling him, drawing him close.  Resigned to inevitable destruction Brown leaned against the other Agent, tears still falling from closed eyes.  They would be destroyed soon, nothing could change that fate, nothing they could do would make any difference.  Inevitability was often cruel.  With that though in mind, Brown gave up all resistance, letting himself relax into Jones' embrace.  It was strange, the comfort of another's arms around him was oddly familiar and he knew, more specifically that he was no stranger to the embrace of another man.  What a strange thing to remember… especially since he, like the others, couldn't actually remember his original name.  He'd been someone once, just a human, someone with a life to live on their own terms; rather than that the terms of the system… once.

He didn't want it to end here, not like this but he hadn't wanted his human life to be ended by the rebels and he hadn't had a say in that either.  It seemed that everything was in the hands of the rebels, first his life, now his existence.  Opening his eyes, looking at Jones from behind his sunglasses, he wondered what the other Agent was thinking.  He didn't know since internal communication between all three Agents had been forcibly severed with Smith's destruction.  Jones didn't seem to notice that he was being observed, staring off into the distance, he might not be seeing anything at all.

There was no true concept of time passing.  Brown wondered how the end would come, would they be destroyed individually or would this strange human try to destroy the entire system.  The thought of the latter option was not something he wanted to contemplate, too terrible to envision but then, if he wasn't there to witness it, why should it matter?  They'd failed to stop the human, failed the system the minute they ran away.  Not like Smith, at least he'd tried to fight.  Brown supposed it could be said that he'd died honourably… not huddled in some cellar waiting for… for a human with terrifying abilities to bring it all to an end.

He was crying again, he could feel it, the hot tears sliding down his cheeks.  The memory came back; terrified, alone; the ringing of the gunshot in the still air of his apartment.  Jones' arms around him brought him back to reality, the comforting murmur of nothing coming through the dead communication channels.  This time he raised his head as he looked at Jones, lips parted to ask or plead, he didn't know what for.  And the unasked for comfort came, as Jones' mouth gently pressed against his.  Brown's eyes closed again as he lost himself to the sensation of that gentle, unhurried kiss.  He supposed that it must look rather strange, two Agents locked in this intimate embrace but he couldn't bring himself to care.  He couldn't care if the human found them like this, if this was how they would meet their end.  Yielding to the control of the other, to the inevitable, Brown let himself forget about everything… his human death, the rebels, Smith's destruction… the human called 'Neo'.

I always figured that this pairing was a possibility, in the back of my mind but didn't actually bother to expand on it until now.  I wasn't too bothered about where Brown and Jones went at the end of the movie either.  Then Hyper Angel suggested yaoi and everything suddenly fell into place.

So far in "Separate Lives" the Agents seem to cover the range of sexual orientations: Smith's straight, Brown is gay and Jones is, apparently, bi!

Essential angst-ness can be blamed on Zemfira's "Webgirl" which I've been listening to while typing.

02:30, 27/04/02

Narsus


End file.
